Should I get a X58-based 1366 motherboard or wait?

[mystiky]

I am considering building a new system, and would like to hear from some others if I should wait 4 months or just do it now.

I am interested in getting the following motherboard:

ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel - which uses the Intel ICH10R South bridge. I know that this MB is fully compatible with the Hexa-Core Gulftown processors, so I can always move to those later.

and using it now with either the:

Intel Core i7 950 Intel Core i7 950 Quad-Core (4 x 3.06GHz) CPU
or
Intel i7-940 Intel Core i7 Processor i7-940 2.93GHz 8MB LGA1366

I realize that the Intel will not release a MB chipset that will have the USB3 built-in until about a year from now.

So, is there any point of waiting a few months, or should I just go for it?

 

[Maziar]

If you want to wait,you can't every buy anything.Because there is always something new around the corner.
So if you need a decent PC now,buy it now and enjoy.

 

[tecmo34]

+1...

I agree with Maziar... If you need a system, get it now as there is always something new coming out

As for the motherboard, I would go with either the ASUS P6X58D-E or ASUS Sabertooth X58. They are very similar to the performance to the Premium but at a lower cost.

 

[Maziar]

True^
Instead of P6X58D Premium,go with P6X58D-E (if you need 3 PCI-E slots) or Sabertooth(If you need 2 )

 

[mystiky]

<Instead of P6X58D Premium,go with P6X58D-E>

Does the -E version support the new Hexacores in the 32nm process?

 

[tecmo34]

Yes... It supports the HEX cores.

 

[jaquith]

Rewording a little, yes the P6X58D-E supports the 6-core 32-nm i7 980X, as far as the 'new' CPUs coming from Intel assuming ASUS provides a BIOS upgrade they indeed will also be supported in the 1366 slot X58.

 

[kg4icg]

The Gigabyte EX58A-UD3R already has USB3.0 on it and supports the I7-980X and has tri sli/cf.

 

[jaquith]

^ UD3R - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/276715-30-x58a-ud3r-raid-bsod-disk-boot-failure

 

[kg4icg]

^I'm still using the EX58-UD3R rev 1.6 which doesn't have usb 3.0 but can use the I7-980X with no problems.

 

[MRFS]

A lot depends on what you want to do now, and
what you want to do tomorrow and the month
after that. I realize this is a difficult question to answer,
because most of us do not have special knowledge of the future,
but it's still a good question to ask ...

If all you really want to do RIGHT NOW can be
handled easily by a used dual-core machine e.g. LGA-775
with 16GB of RAM, great deals can be had in the used
& refurb marketplace.

We LUV our ASUS P5Q Premium with Q9550 and 4 x 4GB of DDR2.

If/when current standards get implemented in hardware,
you can demote your dual-core machine to a simple
storage server e.g. for backups of important data sets
like drive images of your system software partition.

Hard drives have become so huge, it's most practical now
to make multiple copies of key data sets, distributed
across multiple machines: switch your storage server OFF
to guarantee virus and malware protection!


There are several reasons for waiting to spend
your whole budget now, including but not limited to:

(1) widespread availability of SATA/6G and SAS/6G SSDs:
hopefully, this development will depress market prices for
SATA/3G SSDs across the board: e.g. Sandforce SF-2000 series;

(2) native support for SAS/6G and SATA/6G in chipsets:
AMD's 890FX chipset is a good example of leadership in this category;

(4) quad-channel memory controllers integrated into CPUs,
hopefully also available for the ATX standard using 4 x DIMM slots
instead of 8 x DIMM slots (as predicted by some writers):
think of highly integrated ATX and micro-ATX motherboards with
memory bandwidths in the neighborhood of 50,000 MB/second
(seriously!);

(5) PCI-Express 3.0, which is planned to ramp up to a 130/128 jumbo frame
at the bus level, finally doing away with the 10/8 protocol that
was originally designed for dial-up modems now obsolete;

(6) my favorite, which is only theoretical at the moment:
upgrading the SATA protocol to exploit 130/128 jumbo frames
in chipsets and WD's 4K "advanced format" in storage media,
ideally using 4K jumbo frames during transmission with a
minimum of ECC overhead bits; I can see this happening
sooner than later, using driver enhancements and even HDD jumpers
until it becomes standard: see WD's recent 3TB HDD which
comes with an add-on controller to overcome the 2TB barrier;

(7) native chipset support for TRIM and similar garbage collection features
in all RAID modes, not just JBOD with AHCI enabled;

(8) wider availability of very high-density RAM e.g. 8GB and 16GB per DIMM
at affordable prices: this development should emerge with the migration
to sub-30nm technology at high-volume fabs like GlobalFoundaries;

(9) widespread adoption of 64-bit OS and application software;

(10) minimum broadband speeds approaching 1 GHz for wired and
100 MHz for wireless Internet access;

(11) UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) which is currently
a real "sleeper" as far as publicity is concerned, but I predict it will
revolutionize the task of configuring machine settings for various
system and application tasks: imagine a machine with enough RAM
to load the entire OS into a ramdisk in the upper H/W addresses:
and you thought SSDs were fast


So, plan accordingly. If all you need is a minivan to take the
kids to soccer games, and shop for groceries or garden tools,
you definitely would NOT want to spend tons of money on
a Ferrari if it meant you couldn't afford the minivan too


MRFS

 

[Shadow703793]

It depends on what you need. If you don't need the system ASAP, you should probably wait for SB. You WILL pay a bit of a premium but it should be worth it. I payed about $220 (@Microcenter) for my i7 and about $200 for my first X58 board. This system is almost two years old but it is still near the top end of the CPU spectrum.

My recommendation: Pay a bit more and get the latest generation you can if you plan to wait for the next gen CPUs.

I my self will wait until the Intel LAG2011 and AMD Bulldozer CPUs hit for upgrading as for me going with SB now would offer little benefit.

 

[jaquith]

^I'm still using the EX58-UD3R rev 1.6 which doesn't have usb 3.0 but can use the I7-980X with no problems.

I see 'UD3R' and go into "NO" mode {GA-X58A-UD3R} you stated {EX58-UD3R} - DIFFERENT MOBOs and my trigger posting. Your MOBO is probably good because it 'thankfully' lacks the SATA3/USB which somehow GA's implementation of the GA-X58A-UD3R screwed-up the Intel ICH10R.

 

[Gekko Shadow]

^+1 to Shadow

If you need it now, get it. If you can wait - then wait. x)